The Pittsburgh Pirates had no answer for the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, especially with Andy Pages in the middle of it.
After back-to-back three-hit games while batting ninth in the order, Pages went 4 for 5 with a two-run homer and a career-best four RBIs in the six-hole Sunday.
The Dodgers bounced back from a two-run deficit in the first inning with 14 hits to dominate the Pirates, 9-2, and win the three-game series at Dodger Stadium.
It was a spectacular series for Pages, who went 10 for 12 to raise his batting average 90 points, from .187 to .277. The 24-year-old Cuban center fielder also showcased his defensive skills by robbing Bryan Reynolds of a home run with a catch at the wall Saturday.
Pages became the first Dodgers player to have 10 hits in a series since Freddie Freeman against the Athletics from Aug. 1-3, 2023. Per the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast, the only player to hit better in a series was Eric McNair of the Chicago White Sox, who went 12 for 13 in three games against the St. Louis Browns on July 3-4, 1939.
“He did not miss anything,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Sometimes, guys get in a tree. He’s in a tree right now. He had really good swings. It’s one of those things where everything we threw at him, he hit.”
The Pirates got off to a promising start when Andrew McCutchen and Enmanuel Valdez hit back-to-back home runs for a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
McCutchen, who went 4 for 4, sent Tyler Glasnow’s 95 mph first-pitch fastball 407 feet to center for his third home run of the season and to move within two homers of tying Roberto Clemente for third place among the franchise’s all-time leaders. Valdez followed by drilling a letters-high 3-1 fastball 383 feet to right for his second homer.
“We know with a guy like Glasnow, that’s not a person you want to wait on,” McCutchen said. “You don’t want to wait out an at-bat with him. With a guy like him, you want to jump on him early. He was able to throw me a fastball, and I did some damage with it. And Valdez followed me up with one. It was a good start. Obviously, not a good ending.”
The Dodgers answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame against Pirates lefty Bailey Falter (1-3), who exited Tuesday’s start against the Angels after four innings with low back discomfort. Falter allowed five earned runs on eight hits and two walks in 41⁄3 innings, blaming his performance on missing location, falling behind in counts and his ineffective breaking pitches allowing the Dodgers to sit on his heater.
“It’s me,” Falter said. “I’ve just got to be better, honestly. It’s on me.”
Shohei Ohtani drew a full-count leadoff walk and advanced to third on a single by Mookie Betts, and both runners scored on Freeman’s tying single to right. Tommy Edman hit a sharp grounder that skipped under the glove of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Freeman scored when Hayes made an error on his throw home to catcher Joey Bart. Pages singled to left to score Edman and give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.
Glasnow experienced right shoulder discomfort while warming up for the second inning and left the game. Ben Casparius (3-0) came on in relief and struck out five, allowing two hits over 3 2⁄3 innings as the Dodgers bullpen kept the Pirates scoreless over the final eight innings. Yoendrys Gomez pitched the final three innings to earn his first save.
The Dodgers increased their lead to 5-2 in the second when Kike Hernandez drew a leadoff walk, reached third on Ohtani’s double off the right-field wall and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Betts.
Teoscar Hernandez homered for the second straight game, hitting a 402-foot shot to center to start the fifth. Kyle Nicolas replaced Falter with one on and one out, only to have Pages take him deep on his first pitch, a knee-high fastball for a 406-foot, two-run blast and an 8-2 lead. Pages added another RBI when he hit a liner to left to drive in Chris Taylor in the sixth for a 9-2 lead.
The Pirates (11-18) finished the road trip with a six-game split after taking two of three games from the Los Angeles Angels. The Pirates open a six-game homestand at PNC Park against the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, then play a weekend series against the San Diego Padres.
“We’re going home, and we’re playing the team that’s leading our division and the team that’s leading this division, so we’ve got a task ahead of us,” Shelton said. “But I think we played well in five of the games. We just need to continue to play better. Offensively, it looks like we’re getting more consistent as we’re getting healthy, which is really important. We’ve just got to make sure we get some other things squared away.”